tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18617557390154567302019-01-20T09:06:10.934-10:00HOTEL WAIKIKIRONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.comBlogger583125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-28965819977366763022012-12-23T12:02:00.000-10:002012-12-23T12:15:45.760-10:00Flyby Above the Ala Wai<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rdBCAtc7Y0s/UNd7hyT4JFI/AAAAAAAAG_s/zWABm8jAie0/s1600/12_12_20_Sun_A.png" /></div><br />RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-52499832887385684652012-12-21T23:57:00.000-10:002012-12-22T00:03:55.988-10:00Before You Even Think of Tipping the Garbageman This Year<br /><div style="background-color: gainsboro; font-size: .9em; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 5mm; padding-left: 5mm; padding-right: 4mm; padding-top: 5mm;">To get an idea of what [the financial impact post-Inouye] Hawaii might experience in the coming years, the UH graduate students examined federal funding in Alaska and the impact of the loss of its senior senator when Senator Ted Stevens lost the 2008 election.<br /><br />Alaska is a nearly “identical case,” University of Hawaii Professor Panos Prevedouros said, because Senator Ted Stevens was from a small state with very large dependence of federal monies, and he was a senator with great seniority and chair of Senate Appropriations Committee.<br /><br />“Fiscal Year 2009 federal budget was the last one that Senator Stevens of Alaska was present. In 2008, Alaska was represented by Senator Stevens and a junior senator. Stevens alone appropriated $235 <strike>Billion</strike>[?] million in earmarks. Jointly the two senators from Alaska appropriated $496 <strike>Billion</strike>[?] million,” Prevedouros said.<br /><br />“In a case identical to Hawaii in 2012, both Alaska’s senators were replaced in the 2008 elections with two very junior senators. These two 'newbies' were able to appropriate only $46 million in solo earmarks and $174 million in joint earmarks in FY 2010,” Prevedouros added.<br /><br />Source: Hawaii Reporter<br /></div><br />The relevant points are "$496 million" in earmarks plummeting to "$174 million" with Alaska's two newbie Senators in Congress and their utter lack of clout, which is the very situation that Hawaii has on its hands today. However, when Ted Stevens wasn't re-elected and didn't return as the powerful Chairman of the Senate Appropriation Committee, there was not a 'Fiscal Cliff' looming that that will mandatorily slash appropriations across the board to reduce the federal funding even more.RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-56302745218807120122012-12-21T06:07:00.000-10:002012-12-21T07:11:40.395-10:00HurrahI finally eradicated Funmoods as my <strike>freakin</strike> hostile search engine off from all of my browsers.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=how+can+i+get+rid+of+funmoods+as+my+search+engine&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest"><b>Here.</b></a><br /><br />RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-480108868124933352012-12-20T20:30:00.001-10:002012-12-20T20:32:04.700-10:00The End of the World is Near<p>&nbsp;<img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-igL51gjt79c/UNP_9k8nApI/AAAAAAAAG9s/dptmVEQQKY8/s1600/12_12_20_Thurs_A.png" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img border="0" height="187" width="154" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ABeMh28W04Y/UNQBb4shMuI/AAAAAAAAG-g/sbLgpVANeJk/s400/12_12_20_Thurs_B.png" /></p><br />RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-19238401330243994482012-12-19T03:24:00.000-10:002012-12-19T03:24:47.156-10:00Obama named TIME's Person of the Year<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.kitv.com/image/view/-/17305974/medRes/2/-/maxh/460/maxw/620/-/wkxe4kz/-/Obama-wins-re-election-2-jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://www.kitv.com/image/view/-/17305974/medRes/2/-/maxh/460/maxw/620/-/wkxe4kz/-/Obama-wins-re-election-2-jpg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>And who else would be more deserving?<br />RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-64565733142299136552012-12-17T23:00:00.000-10:002012-12-18T05:42:59.465-10:00Hawaii Sen. Daniel K. Inouye dies at 88<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EeN1RQpNZGQ/UNBOxX4wtgI/AAAAAAAAG7I/20R7UAKcnd0/s1600/12_12_17_Mon_A.jpg" /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />"I represented the people of Hawaii and this nation honestly<br /><br />&nbsp;and to the best of my ability. &nbsp;I think I did okay."<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Daniel_K._Inouye_Signature.svg/128px-Daniel_K._Inouye_Signature.svg.png" /></div><hr /><br />I happened to bump into the Senator at Longs Drugs about 2 year ago and said, "Hi, Dan." As soon as I saw the Senator's eyes brighten up, I knew he'd probably spend 10 minutes or so talking story, so I whisked off without saying another word so I wouldn't take up his day. I mean the guy's on vacation from Washington DC, and random conversation is the last thing he really needs. Aloha, Dan.<br /><br />Two weeks ago, Vice President Joe Biden delivered the eulogy at the memorial service for Warren Rudman (former Senator R-NH). It struck me somewhat odd, at least, then, that Biden would mention Senator Inouye during a memorial service for another senator. Perhaps, or perhaps not, people in the inner circle knew something that we didn't know about the true extent of Senator Inouye's health issues. Anyways, Inouye's not the type to drag people through stories of bad health. He had more class than that.<br /><br /><div style="background-color: gainsboro; font-size: .9em; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 5mm; padding-left: 5mm; padding-right: 4mm; padding-top: 5mm;">"I've never met a man in all the years I've served, with the single exception of Dan Inouye, that had the integrity, faith and grit in the ordinary American people .... as Warren Rudman."<br /><br />Vice President Joe Biden &nbsp;| &nbsp;Nov 29, 2012</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_MkNaCxWnRs/UNAuJXFYu8I/AAAAAAAAG5Q/G3ZN7lLOgME/s1600/12_12_17_Mon_B.png" /></div><hr />Some aloha comments below....<br /><br />From the Washington Post:<br /><div style="background-color: gainsboro; font-size: .9em; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 5mm; padding-left: 5mm; padding-right: 4mm; padding-top: 5mm;"><b>dkoelper wrote:</b><br />.... We first met Sen. Inouye in the halls of the Senate back in 1970 when I was 10, and my mother was trying to visit our own senator to arrange a tour of the Capitol, only to find his office closed.<br /><br />Seeing the look of disappointment on my face, Sen. Inouye graciously invited us to his own offices, and not only had his staff make those arrangements, he also took us to lunch in the Senate dining room, and invited us to see the Senate in session. That little boy never forgot his random act of kindness, and I've always had a lot of aloha in my heart for him.<br /><br /><b>John E. wrote:</b><br />In 1966 my grandmother worked in the Senate cafeteria. He used to give her his two tickets to the Washington Senators so that she could take her 13-year-old grandson to the games. Some of my fondest memories as a child.<br /><br /><b>rapidreader wrote:</b><br />Sen. Inouye's Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was probably one of the five most important pieces of social change law in American history. That Act gave American Indians the first real chance they ever got. This one piece of legislation changed America; it should be in the first three paragraphs of Inouye's biography or his obituary.<br /><br /><b>HappilyRetired2 wrote:</b><br />I had the honor to meet him once briefly. It was in a line to get through security at Dulles. He was standing in line like everyone else.<br /><br /><b>DC_Native_1976 wrote:</b><br />My mother is Nisei and was interned in Manzanar for over 2 years during WWII as a teenager along with her sister and mother. I grew up in a household where Senator Inouye was greatly respected as an humble hero who personally personified the ethos of the war generation.... The war years left huge scars on the Japanese American community and Daniel Inouye's life was a living testament to the power of staying positive....<br /><br /><b>Jeepers Creepers wrote:</b><br />.... I met him in the spring of 1985. He and his wife were walking up past American University and on their way to lunch. My wife and I, almost thirty years their junior, were sort of heading in the same direction. We fell into conversation.<br /><br />My wife and I had served together in the Navy and were stationed in Hawaii in the late '70's and we got to talking about our favorite Honolulu restaurants - like Maple Garden on Isenberg Street - a restaurant the Inouye's knew well. (It's still there and it's still great - no tourists!). <br /><br />Next thing we knew, we were invited to join them for lunch and I must say, the next 2 hours were absolutely amazing. We exchanged Christmas cards every year since and though I never saw them again, I still to this day hold a special place in my heart for these remarkable Americans. <br /><br /><b>Totalam wrote:</b><br />Goodbye MR .Inouye. What world needs today is more politicians like you. I live in Britain ,I have closely followed your military and political carrier. To me you are one of the towering politicians of America. I am sure you will be ranked among the great politicians who hailed from united states<br /><br /><b>hillstemple wrote:</b><br />.... Mahalo for all you have done for Hawaii and the United States. You are a true statesman. You helped to open doors for people from Hawaii. You gave so many Hawaii people the opportunity to work in Congress and the federal government. You gave pride to the people of Hawaii. You set an example for all of us that yes, we too, can achieve.<br /><br />Your legacy lives on in many of us. <br /><br />Aloha oe<br /></div><br />From the Huffington Post:<br /><div style="background-color: gainsboro; font-size: .9em; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 5mm; padding-left: 5mm; padding-right: 4mm; padding-top: 5mm;"><b>cadreamer14 wrote:</b><br />.... Ralph Ensminger (my grandma's brother) served as Senator Inouye's Captain in the 442nd and died in the first battle in Italy. Senator Inouye graciously dedicated a chapter of his book "My Journey to Washington" to my Great Uncle. Senator Inouye was a brave, amazing man. He signed a copy of his book and presented it to my grandmother (who grew up in Hawaii) many years ago. Rest in peace, Mr. Inouye. Thank you for being a true hero and leader.<br /><br /><b>Rick Kasper wrote:</b><br />.... My Dad fought along with Seator Inouye in Italy. What a great hero, Great american and even better person. It is a sad day to hear of the passing of this great man. God please offer him rest. Mr Inouye Thank you for your honest, ethical,honorable and humble service to this country, I salute you, hope and pray .... May God give you the eternal Joy you so richly deserve.<br /><br /><b>HawaiiSteve wrote:</b><br />In 1990, I started a company in Honolulu called O'ahu Wireless Cable to compete against the cable monopoly that is Oceanic Time Warner. Senator 'Dan,' concerned about the constantly rising of cable rates with no competition, helped me to get the FCC licenses I needed. I had never met him prior to that (and a recent newcomer to the state) but he wanted his constituency to have a choice and not be held hostage to the national cable monopolies. He invited me to Washington D.C., introduced me to the FCC Commissioners, and 'asked' them to do all the could to help us get started. I will never forget his help and support!<br /><br />Aloha Senator Dan! You will be greatly missed.<br /><br /><b>NorenForSenate wrote:</b><br />.... one bill that he wrote trying to give space a flight privileges to 100% disabled vets didn't get support from Gillibrand and other Senators. Disgraceful. Hope they will honor him in death by co-sponsoring the bill.<br />Scott Noren DDS<br />Non combat vet, activist<br /></div>RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-88075649004647841252012-12-09T23:42:00.001-10:002012-12-18T03:38:39.223-10:00Marathoners Are Wearing Yellow Finisher's T-Shirts Tonight.<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Sux6EKvVdZE/UMV7Kh9jNNI/AAAAAAAAGqs/oaqslczLT-g/s1600/12_12_09_Sun_A.png" /></div>This is how the home stretch looks through the eyes of marathoner as they approach the finish line off in the far distance (red arrow). The final straight·a·way is actually over a 1000 meters straight. More in the back of me than infront from the spot of the photo. Other major marathon courses may match this in length. But they wouldn't have a beach on one side and Kapiolani Park on the other.</p><br /><p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JmwkzN5qLug/UMV7xEDSFRI/AAAAAAAAGq4/EU2-tuJeZh4/s1600/12_12_09_Sun_B.png" /></div>What a relief, the finish line wasn't a mirage. However, by now, the international tv camera crew have already packed up and left. And so has the audience. But like they say, you can't have everything.</p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_jVVwcHpDFo/UMWFEJf3JJI/AAAAAAAAGs4/q_W5vvyT2pk/s1600/12_12_09_Sun_C.png" /></div>It's about 5pm and by now most of the runners have clocked in. You see the truck on the right, the workers are already gathering up the sidewalk barriers. However, these two cheer leaders haven't given up on the stragglers. Are they awesome or what. Found out they live around the corner from me. So what are neighbors to do. Why, chat. Not tweeter, chat. The sign that they're holding says in kanji(?), "Fight On." I didn't ask their permission to use their pic in my blog so that's why they're wearing designer sunglasses.<br /><br />Did I mention to them that I authored a blog. No. My neighbors on the same floor aren't aware of my blog. Neither anybody in the rest of the entire apartment building. "There's RONW, he's gonna take our photo and post pics of us on the Internet." "What's Internet?" "That's where you buy things online." "You mean he's putting us up for sale on the Internet?" "No, no, but quick, we better hide in the elevator before he gets within photo range."</p><br /><p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LDbdwPgr8bA/UMWEHvdcf8I/AAAAAAAAGss/TVKPX5MR-M4/s1600/12_12_09_Sun_D.png" /></div>That, dear reader, is not a giant phallus under wrap by court order. If it were a giant dick with a 'Out of Order' sign on it, it would be a medical disaster. Rather it was originally a beach shower. A working one at that. This is a busy beach and people cannot wash off the sand from the beach and the free suntan lotion on the surface of the water that sticks to their skins. It's across the street from Kapiolani Park and nearby the hotels you see in the pic.<br /><br />Neglected repairs like this is why the Gov. is demanding that the teachers take a pay cut. We need the money to fix the outdoor showers at the beaches and replace the missing handles on faucets in the public restrooms. And a few thousand other things la dat although not a major public works project by them selves add up to a substantial amount in total, but as I noted in an earlier post, the Gov. finds it far more urgent to build brand new prisons that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Puhleeze</p>RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-68680862072065736562012-12-08T20:27:00.002-10:002012-12-09T02:18:56.781-10:00Marathon Saturday<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kKE-eDUZC-0/UMQlGiMOL-I/AAAAAAAAGmw/JQ-Lf5Qw70I/s1600/12_12_08_Sat_A.png" /></div>Without further ado, The Arc de Triomphe ala 2012 Honolulu Marathon. It's been a tradition the day before race day for runners to have their pics taken running under The Arc de Triomphe in full stride arms high in victory and not even breaking a sweat. Tomorrow will of course tell a different story at the end of the grueling 26.2 miles. I surmise that's the reason for the red mats to cushion the finisher's landing if they so need it. Minor detail, this is actually the finished-side of the finish line.</p><br /><p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DODKiHBxwpg/UMQos6k2JzI/AAAAAAAAGnY/FJEWmrGqLIQ/s1600/12_12_08_Sat_B.png" /></div>This is the real deal from the runner's vantage point about a 100 meters from the finish line. Still looks far to me.</p><br /><p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YXbZCjLA9rg/UMQriMWeMyI/AAAAAAAAGoA/VSl-q0oHro4/s1600/12_12_08_Sat_C.png" /></div>The completed camera & media platform that the workers were setting up in yesterday's pic.</p><br /><p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xRJE4laq2Ig/UMQsEYjwn_I/AAAAAAAAGoM/_K10CbosKNY/s1600/12_12_08_Sat_D.png" /></div>Quite strudy, isn't it?</p><br /><p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N7QKQopvMAo/UMQsir7wEGI/AAAAAAAAGoY/mbv7f0RTDK0/s1600/12_12_08_Sat_E.png" /></div>Plastic crowd control barriers lining the home stretch.</p><br /><p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yfsptjcLGWQ/UMQwo25fR7I/AAAAAAAAGpY/FL6MxXCPPCQ/s1600/12_12_08_Sat_F.png" /></div>You can see by how a welcome breeze lifts up the plastic fencing, it's a better running weather. It's been humid for the most part of this week.</p><br /><p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wx5oBSYaBQU/UMQt02Q__aI/AAAAAAAAGow/XyGGoYYyILA/s1600/12_12_08_Sat_G.png" /></div></p>RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-88761924496314042122012-12-07T14:57:00.001-10:002012-12-07T15:08:58.917-10:00Marathon Friday<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-suohYYqK-8E/UMKGpeySVSI/AAAAAAAAGl8/q76SI9CcdEk/s1600/12_12_07_Fri_A.png" /></div><p>I was mentioning in yesterday's post that oddly I didn't see the Arc de Triomphe at the official finish line for the Honolulu Marathon. The marathon is this Sunday. Well, it turns out that my eyes weren't seeing things, or is it, deceiving me. I mean the crew didn't start erecting the Arc de Triomphe until this morning. In the pic above the workers are scaffolding the columns and the architrave, the horizontal beam or bridge in this case. I believe that perch is for the tv cameras. Anyways, below, is the Arc de Honolulu that the finishers run under with their arms up in victory if you equate pain and exhaustion to victory. Their feat never ceases to amaze me. Their feet, too. Every year.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XoosfOSTDRc/UMKGw-9Js-I/AAAAAAAAGmI/pv6n1zpiST4/s1600/12_12_07_Fri_B.png" /></div>RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-78259912219376936012012-12-06T20:24:00.000-10:002012-12-06T22:22:53.076-10:00Bronze Ponies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v61Uq7HG-kk/UMGJGyNbfTI/AAAAAAAAGlU/sntsiPxtEKA/s1600/12_12_06_Thurs_A.png" /></div><p>There's two bronze ponies if you can make them out the photo. They and the two stone statues are the latest additions to the Stone Gardens along Kahala Ave. Dunno why the objects in the pics always seem blurred. Perhaps the lens needs cleaning okay why I never look then. Anyways, if I had arrived an hour earlier the sun would have been in a better angle for the photo shot. Perhaps, again this weekend. [edit] *Whoops, I forget the Honolulu Marathon is on this weekend and the home route is Kahala Ave. Oddly I didn't see the Arc de Triumph set up at the Kapiolani Park finish line when I passed there today.<br /><br />RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-77308512320393059322012-12-02T21:00:00.000-10:002012-12-14T00:58:06.708-10:00A Bunch of Lolo Grinches<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JZo8IRu1Khk/ULw7ydO02TI/AAAAAAAAGjo/20ryjsdQkcE/s1600/12_12_01_Sat_D.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JZo8IRu1Khk/ULw7ydO02TI/AAAAAAAAGjo/20ryjsdQkcE/s1600/12_12_01_Sat_D.PNG" /></a></div>Good thing the homeowner above been wake up when he heard his dogs barking at 2am in the morning. This happened last week Thursday night. He get up, he hear somebody outside in the dark, sound like they breaking into his house. So the home owner been yell at the intruders and they been run away one got caught later down the street. Here's where the story gets beyond pathetic. The next morning he check the outside of the house and he found a few window screens partially pried open. He keep looking around and to his utter disbelief, he discovered that the thieves been steal all the christmas lights that was strung up on the eaves. Effin lolo's. So if you run across somebody trying to hawk strings of christmas lights to get money to buy their meth .... no call the cops. We take care of the lolo's ourselves.<br /><br />I usually put up my christmas lights by the stroke of midnight Dec. 1st. If I don't put them up by then the odds are that I'll skip this year like I did the last 2 years. Something related to not making a proverbial deadline ordained in the horoscope or some other type of temple of divination that the jungle has overgrown and shrouded from modern civilization. Of course Dec. 1st been pass already. Up until now that would mean no christmas lights on my lanai railing (balcony). However, the story above has inspired me to dig deep down and find the energy inside myself to string up the christmas lights anyway. So, bruddah, above. Sorry for your lost. But you can come my house and look at my christmas lights dedicated to you and your family. And your family dogs. Bellieve me, I gotta dig way inside my locker room underneath stacks of things for the christmas lights. But I find them. Aloha.<br /><br />When I walk around my neighborhood at night, I notice that not very many people have strung up christmas lights. The exception is the people who didn't take them down from last year and they just plug them back on. Their plastic trees will keep a year too. I'm not mocking you dear reader who have the evergreens. However, this lack of christmas lights, the ceremonial spirit, whatever, has been going on for a few years now. I guess the economy has dampened people's spirits not by any measure to a melted snowman demeaner bah humbug christmas is plain overrated I'll regrift the joy and the send it to the next recepient down the line like a chain letter no kurgerrand for you red kettle, but the genuine meriment doesn't overflow the cup as robustly as it did. That is, before the economy went to the south pole, there were visibly more christmas lights set up everywhere on this side of the Ala Wai canal and on the other side of the Ala Wai too.<br /><br />In other news, or should I intone, in other observations, soy beans were on sale for 4 for $5.oo at the grocery store. That's $1.25 each. 16 ounces packages. However, usually a 16oz package of frozen soy beans is almost $4.oo at the going rate. They use to be perenially on sale for $1.00 to $1.25 almost all year round. It remains a mystery to me why the price of soy beans been fluctuate so high. It's not real important in the grand scheme of all things grocery-wise, but they were my favorite snacks. I use to eat them frozen. Rarely less than a bag or two a week.<br /><br /><br />RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-91765977943537776642012-12-02T14:14:00.000-10:002012-12-02T14:22:10.882-10:00On a Clear Day, You Can See Gov. Neil Abercrombie<br /><div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NqyBwcAH6ik/ULsSVfWg_cI/AAAAAAAAGiU/xO0kHH9ztXs/s1600/12_12_01_Sat_A.png" /></div>As you can see in the pic, today was not a clear day. Variable winds drove in the vog that always lingers in the atmosphere south of the islands. Vog is volcanic haze. Or at least, as I endear it, The Veil of Pele, the Hawaiian volcano godness.<br /><br />Now back to our story du jour. As usual it's a rant. Rant or Rave. I try to keep a healthy balance between the two, but know what when was the last you remembered I raved about something? Anything at all. Alrighty, then, from now on I'll rave hysterically about this or that like someone overdosed on their happy pills. Won't we like that? Just trying to be humorous. Seriously, though, it's not sane to rant with every keystroke. Fyi, there is a Bloggers AA. They meet every Friday night 6 o'clock at Kapiolani Park under the two coconut trees. Free refreshments. Be there. Unfortunately there isn't a Rant-ers AA chapter on the entire island. "Hello everbody, my name is Ronw Waikiki, of the clan Waikiki. I have been <strike>sober</strike> have not ranted for 5 weeks and 2 days and 6 hours and 7 minutes." Applauds. "Mahalo."<br /><br />Hawaii teachers supported Gov. Neil Abercrombie in his campaign bid for Hawaii's governor. So what's a Governor to do for people who supported his acendency? Why, simply relegate their status to an inconvenient liability. The gaul of the teachers trying to collect on a bygone favor with something more substantial than a hearty thankyou, my friends. "Just sign the freakin contract, already!" Never mind the terms are so lopsided that the teachers at 40 schools are rallying en masse that the Governor draft a revision.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NXAYMraflNs/ULtgn0KknqI/AAAAAAAAGjE/1WS1QIwA4xo/s1600/12_12_01_Sat_B.png" /></div>Before Neil was governor he was a professor at the University of Hawaii. You'd tunk that public teachers are his comrades-in-arms insofar as the issue of pay. Yes, the contract dispute is all about money. Specifically, less money for the teachers. In the lastest and greatest proposal, the State with Gov. Neil Abercrombie presiding sought to restore teachers' pay back to the 2007 level. Now it makes dollars and cents that kids taught proficiently in grade school are more likely to past entrance exams to enroll at the university level where Abercrombie, himself, formerly earned his livelihood.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y29n5SQiaSU/ULtgP3ISonI/AAAAAAAAGi4/mcDmMtZ0H1s/s1600/12_12_01_Sat_C.png" /></div>True, the state has just semi-recovered from a brush with near bankruptcy and money is tight. Part of the recovery was made possible by furoughing teachers 2 days a month without pay. Oh never mind about the kids roaming the streets who no longer had a classroom on those furlough days. However, inexplicably, Gov. Abercrombie earlier this year proposed the incredulous idea of building new prisons so prisoners that Hawaii shipped off to mainland private prisons can return home and those prisoners could be repatriated in body and soul with their families on local prison visits.<br /><br />By Gov. Abercrombie's metric, the mainland method is cruel and unusual punishment even though the average citizen would suspect that the Governor is ante-ing up to the terms of a blood oath he tendered behind the campaign curtains between himself and the prison guards industry as such offshoring Hawaii prisoners is cruel and unusual punishment to the livelihoods of the prison guards. Thus it must follow that it is unconscionable to let Hawaii prisoners be locked up in Gitmo and the humane cover is they be brought back home albeit shackled to the ulterior motive disguised in this instance as thinly as the vog in today's air with islanders rubbing their eyeballs. The state already has in place a prisoner program for readjustment back into society where Hawaii prisoners are shipped back to the islands to serve the final year of their sentences so they may acclimatize themselves to the warmer weather and tradewinds to foster an orderly transition leading up to their release.<br /><br />I don't how many prison guards actually vote. However, I have a strong hunch that almost every teacher does vote. Thusly, Gov. Abercrombie's odd behavior defies political logic. At any rate Abercrombie isn't catering to the teachers behalf. Instead he's read them the riot act that there is no money, period. But there is money to build brand new prisons with humongous price tags. Btw, the current prison guards are set for life. They don't need new prisons to insure the future of their livelihoods or necessarily give a hoot about newbies entering their profession with the prospectus of new prisons. The last student dormatory built a year or two ago at the University was the first new dorm building the state built in three decades on the university campus.<br /><br />From the very beginning of time and I don't meant time served it's been a fact that new prison eventually become old prisons and old prisons need refurbishing. The state can barely keep up with the backlog of school repairs and potholes how do they reckon to fix even more. It's also a fact of life that spacious new prisons become overflowing prisons in a matter of years. Then it'll be the revolving door scenario where there'll be law suits and the state will ship the overflow off to mainland private prisons. Then there's the legacy costs of the prison guard retirement and health insurance benefits for the pensioners that will come back to haunt Gov. Abercrombie. Obviously, he won't be still in office by then. So no skin off his oklole.RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-16684334328594658392012-11-25T23:00:00.000-10:002012-11-26T00:16:36.718-10:00U.S. Mulling Leaving 10K Troops in Afghanistan After 2014What is so wrong with the headline above besides being both beyond unbelievable and stupid at the same time? And if you must ask, no, I did not get everything I so desired over the weekend however neither did I approach near the fiscal cliff. I haven't forgotten about tomorrow. Cyber Monday. Every day it's a cyber monday for the US policy makers it seems. For starters, how long will the 10,000 troops be stationed in Afghanistan after 2014 as a matter of policy? Until 2016. Then 20xx. The US invented mission creep and now apparently the policy is to take it to even another level.&nbsp;There is nothing permanently worthwhile that the US has accomplished in the past decade in Afghanistan.<br /><br />As it is, the entire US military force is fighting a contingent of 200 al-Qaeda soldiers throughout the entire Afghanistan and those include the imaginary head count. It's been said of Osama bin Laden that he couldn't lead 7 ducks across the highway. The US is fighting his ducks. Oh, it's about the Taliban. See, becuz the Taliban are harboring al Queada in their poppy fields. Thus to exterminate the last remnants of al-Qaeda, every Taliban member must be rounded up and imprisioned indefinitely. Or shot. I agree. However, in Afghanistan, every other person and his gecko is Taliban.RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-34998627405702963412012-11-24T23:52:00.000-10:002012-11-24T23:52:03.841-10:00LED Bulbs vs. CFL bulbsMight sound a lame on a super shopping weekend, but I went shopping for a light bulb tonight. Since the compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL) last forever I couldn't remember whether it was 'bright white' or 'day light' that I bought the last time. Now you may ask, "why don't you take the old bulb out and read the fine print?" Well, of course I did just that after I returned home. It would have saved me hours deciding in the store aisle. Oh, I ending up buying 'day light.' And yes, it's real important.<br /><br />If you weren't aware,&nbsp;CFL bulbs are old style. The bulbs modern day people are using are LED's. CFL's replaced incandescents, and now LED's are replacing CFL's. Well, almost. LEDs are still too expensive, and I don't really know if they last so much longer that they're money effective. Another thing that I realized after I returned home was for some reason it never occured to me to order light bulbs off the Internet. Anyways, the way I understand it, is that the hour ratings for an LED's are based on the LED's fading to 80-percent of their original brightness. The CFL bulb that I replaced was still working but the light was getting so dim. Thusly, so even if the label on a CFL bulb states it'll last 50,000-hours, it doesn't mean it'll provide useful light for that many hours. That's where LED's are better. Well enough talk about how better LED's light up our lives because I still ended up buying a CFL bulb. Actually, with LED's threatening to make CFL bulbs fade away into extinction, CFL's are getting cheaper.RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-9487078824189431202012-11-20T22:00:00.000-10:002012-11-21T02:53:28.074-10:00Word VerificationI've recently disabled word verification becuz who needs the hassle. Then some of the comments were getting flagged as spam. So, I disabled comment moderation. Unfortunately, I've been receiving a lot of spam. So, of course, I'll have to re-enable comment moderation.<br /><br /><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EvMWd33ij3I/UKx4kAXQPsI/AAAAAAAAGe0/y7-eOBcTBZ8/s1600/12_11_20_Tues_A.PNG" /><br /><br />I stumbled upon a new type of word verification scheme on the registration form above. The simple instruction is in the green box. It sure beats the Blogger word verification rigamarole. The word verification alphabets on Blogger et al. are so well disguised or alterred that it's almost impossible to recognize them for what they really are. Then you have to resubmit them over and over again.RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-48925786297079763862012-11-20T04:29:00.002-10:002012-11-21T03:54:52.103-10:00Pakalolo ProhibitionBelow, excerpts from a letter that members of Congress in favor of legalizing marijuana sent to the federal government.<br /><br /><div style="background-color: gainsboro; font-size: .8em; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 5mm; padding-left: 5mm; padding-right: 4mm; padding-top: 5mm;">The people of Colorado and Washington have decided that marijuana ought to be regulated like alcohol.<br /><br />The voters chose to eliminate the illegal marijuana market controlled by cartels and criminals ....<br /><br />These states have chosen to move from a drug policy that spends millions of dollars turning ordinary Americans into criminals toward one that will tightly regulate the use of marijuana while raising tax revenue to support cash-strapped state and local governments.<br /><br />.... we ask that your departments [the feds] take no action against anyone who acts in compliance with the laws of Colorado, Washington and any other states that choose to regulate marijuana for medicinal or personal use.<br /><br />The tide of public opinion is changing both at the ballot box and in state legislatures across the country. We believe that the collective judgment of voters and state lawmakers must be respected.</div><br />I haven't the vaguest idea who it was that grouped pakalolo together with meth, cocaine and heroin in the War on Drugs, but it must have been someone high on morality. No one has died from an overdose of pakalolo. Ever. If they were tossed in the same bin of cadavers, than it was with a mixture of other drugs in their system. Ditto with traffic statistics in that context. Thus, it's high time that the laws against reacreational use of pakalolo was updated to, well, no laws against it.<br /><br />It costs too much to prosecute and incarcerate pakalolo offenders with money that could have been spent elsewhere. And, of course, the tax revenues that the legalized product would have brought in and will never be recouped. If this wasn't bad enough, pakalolo prohibition has proven a windfall to it's beneficiaries, both the prison-industrial complex and the drug dealers. The last thing that either of them would like to see is recreational pakalolo use be decriminalized. Meanwhile, pakalolo prohibition has made the image of pakalolo as a gateway drug a self-fulfilling prophesy simply because pakalolo people have to intermingle and rub shoulders with the hard drug crowd, just as in the Prohibition era, alcohol parlors had backrooms that served the heroin clients and prostitution johns.<br /><br />To clarify, decrimalizing pakalolo does not legalize wholesale pakalolo growing. In the 18 states that allow medical pakalolo, only hardships cases are allowed to grow their own and limited to one or two house plants. The argument against legalized pakalolo that goes something like, "but legalization would create a huge underground market to resell to minors," is true to some extent, but the fact is that there already is a black market for minors who like blow the weed.<br /><br />If you haven't been out in your neighborhood lately, I'll kindly inform you that there's an ongoing meth epidemic. I don't smoke pakalolo myself nor inhale so forth, but I personally blame pakalolo prohibition for the meth plague. Meth is readily available to anybody and meth doesn't take months to grow. Then there's the meth related crimes especially home burglaries. There is nothing good in meth. Every part of the pakalolo plant can be used for something useful. For example, The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper. There are parts of the pakalolo plant that possess the medicinal effects without the high.<br /><br />The costs to produce heroin is a whopping 2% of its street price. Ridiculously low for pakalolo as well. Oregon had legalizing pakalolo, Measure 80, on the ballot, along with Washington and Colorado. Oregon voters gave it a thumbs down. The difference in the Oregon version was that &nbsp;licensed growers would sell their harvests to the state, and the state would dispense it exclusively through licsensed outlets. However, Measure 80 was excessively progressive. It would allow adults to grow and possess limitless amounts of marijuana for personal use. The limitless growing amount is not so far out as it seems. The grower would be wiser selling surplus stock to the state instead of risk being caught for selling without a licsence to strangers who might rob the seller or rat on the seller.RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-10646570938116819182012-11-13T22:24:00.000-10:002012-11-13T23:01:33.424-10:00Sex, Lies, Emails and the MediaIf you haven't heard 'Petraeus' repeated over a trillion times on the tv by now, your electricity was off becuz you failed or forgot to pay your utility bill, or if you have heard Patraeus ad nauseam, than warning this will be the trillionth and one time. The reason that I'm more negatively effected by the non-stop media frenzy over the Petraeus affair than the average human is that I almost always watch 24/7 news channels on tv. And that's all the news channels have been spouting about this past week. Petraeus Petraeus Petraeus Petraeus. At this point I only wish the democrat administration had traded keeping the Petraeus affair silent to the repubs in exchange for extending the Bush tax cuts another decade, well almost. Okay, it's a deal. Oh, you have to forfeit the Obama re-election too, of course.<br /><br />Mind you, the annoyance is not entirely what you may think it is. I am starting to get a bit captivated by the developing events. Originally it had all the trappings of media malfeasance of hyping a non-story into a news bonanza. It still would remain a mundane story at the most of tabloid value had it not been for the new characters that have emerged outta the woodwork. Essentially like guest stars on the Hawaii Five-O series. Seriously, though, these bimbo's whom instigated the chain of events .... don't they realize that we still have a war going on. On top of that, they're not your average variety of bimbo's swept up in a media storm and cowering away in secret safehouses. Instead they're savvy in how to flex their muscles. Both buttocks and shoulders and why wouldn't they, shovel ready, if you may, for example, the harrassing Emailer can only benefit from the windfall&nbsp; publicity for the sales of her new book devoted to the Gen. Petraeus and her service as a his laptop. Meanwhile, the victim of the harrassing Emailer enjoys life as a socialite with nothing better to do than bask in the spot light of the elevated celebrity.RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-29671895813938299262012-11-05T12:45:00.000-10:002012-11-05T12:59:36.887-10:00Votes R (not) Us<br />The excerpt below is from an article about increasing the percentage of voters by law. The last presidential election was something like a 60 percent turnout.<br /><br /><p style="PADDING-RIGHT: 4mm; PADDING-LEFT: 5mm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 4mm; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 5mm; BACKGROUND-COLOR: gainsboro; font-size: .8em;"><a href="http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-case-compulsory-voting-7691"><b>The Case for Compulsory Voting</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;[The National Interest]<br /><br />Jonathan Levine | November 2, 2012<br /><br />Nevada offers an interesting solution: in 1975 .... Nevada became the only state in America to include a “none of these candidates” option alongside the major parties. And while it was a step in the right direction, the initiative was nonbinding and toothless. In the 1976 Republican Congressional primary, “none of these candidates” trounced its competitors, and yet, despite the abjectly clear will of the voters, the nomination went to the nearest runner-up ....<br /><br /></p>RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-76821345339413810302012-11-04T02:28:00.000-10:002012-11-04T02:30:00.776-10:00Tight Race in The Polls<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="155" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/846329/thumbs/r-2012-PRESIDENTIAL-ELECTION-huge.jpg" width="400" /></div>RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-36667053264452649402012-11-02T23:17:00.001-10:002012-11-02T23:17:31.706-10:00It's Friday<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_5mvtGYQts4/UJS2UDjaVAI/AAAAAAAAGVo/PMI3YMjR8qs/s1600/12_11_02_Fri_A.png" /></div> <p>Frequently during this season of the year, we've greeted with a nice view of the mountains looking out from my lanai (balcony). The air or something. Of course, this is before the annual wet weather arrives. Then there're be days that you might not be able to see across the street or even want to walk across the street.</p><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nO_kIe70dls/UJTLx1BrR5I/AAAAAAAAGWM/7rGgtjf4nWU/s1600/12_11_02_Fri_B.png" /></div> <p>I was about to leave a rousing compliment for a YouTube video blogger that I regularly visit. Before I could do this, up pops the page above. Is YouTube even serious. How important is it to the V-blogger to know who I am? What purpose would it even serve. Then once you have your info on record, every V-blog that has their videos hosted by YouTube, and then you comment there, will display your name, rank, serial number, photo if included, to whom out there.RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-36204811859899748782012-10-31T23:00:00.000-10:002012-11-01T01:32:52.231-10:00While Watching The Racheal Maddow ShowRachel Maddow on her MSNBC show put out a friendly reminder that the American Red Cross does not like people sending them well intentioned canned goods etc. for disaster relief. "It only creates an extra job for the Red Cross who already have a logistical nightmare on their hands." <br /><br /><div style="background-color: gainsboro; font-size: .9em; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 5mm; padding-left: 7mm; padding-right: 4mm; padding-top: 5mm;">The American Red Cross webpage: <br /><br />The American Red Cross does not accept or solicit individual donations such as food and used clothing, which must be sorted which impedes the valuable resources of money, time and personnel that are needed for other aspects of our relief operation. <br /><br />[Instead] financial contributions allow the Red Cross to purchase what is needed for the specific disaster relief operation. Monetary donations also enable the Red Cross to purchase relief supplies close to the disaster site which avoids delays and transportation costs .... and also stimulates the weakened local economy.</div><br />Obviously, there are varying degrees to how the advisory applies or exceptions, for example, I don't think the Red Cross would mind you dropping off canned goods in person at the disaster zone's Red Cross shelter to keep the onsite kitchen stocked. Otherwise, as the Red Cross website said, you usually end up doing more harm than good. If unsolicited canned goods is a headache for the Red Cross, showing up in person as an uninvited superhero at the disaster zone to aid in the clean-up puts it's own strain on the relief efforts, since volunteers need to be housed, fed, take showers, in an area that is already low on these facilities. On the topic of canned goods, personally, I feel it's unnecessary to give the expensive stuff even if you can afford to part with it. That applies as well to local food drives because nobody expects it and the odds are unscrupulous volunteers will take the expensive canned goods home. That might sound cynical but unless you implanted an RFID tracking micro chip in the donated item I'd place my bets on the side of human instinct.<br /><br />Strategically, Mitt Romney put his presidential campaign on hold to show his respects. I say strategically because when Obama puts his campaign on hold, but the media zooms in and focuses on Obama, what else is Romney to do except what Romney does best and that's connecting with the American people. I forget but it was either the host of the MSNBC show before or following Racheal Maddow noted that New Jersey will take the next decade to recover. Meanwhile, Romney didn't forsake absolutely all media coverage. His Ohio rally was altered to a disaster rally where of all things the republican organizers asked the audience to bring in canned goods and disaster relief supplies just the opposite of what the Red Cross said they needed in these types of situation. It's reminiscent of Romney's visit to the London Olympics when and where he took the occasion to overcook things too. <br /><br /><div style="background-color: gainsboro; font-size: .9em; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 5mm; padding-left: 7mm; padding-right: 4mm; padding-top: 5mm;">The plan was for supporters to bring in hurricane relief supplies to the event and then [hand the] bags of canned goods, packages of diapers, and cases of water bottles to Romney .... To complete the photo op, Romney would .... carry the goods out of the gymnasium and into the Penske rental truck parked outside. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/the-making-of-romneys-storm-relief-event">The Making Of Romney's Storm Relief Event</a></b><br />McKay Coppin | BuzzFeed <br /><hr /><br /><br />But there was another problem: what if supporters showed up without materials to drop off? Team Romney prepared for that, too -- the night before the "relief event," campaign aides went to a local Wal Mart and spent $5,000 on "granola bars, canned food, and diapers," which could then be displayed for cameras. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/31/14831589-just-grab-something?lite">'Just grab something'</a></b><br />Steve Benen | MSNBC</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://m.static.newsvine.com/servista/imagesizer?file=steve-benenFCC04F06-AE56-FA32-D705-17C49B46A7C9.jpg&amp;width=380" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://m.static.newsvine.com/servista/imagesizer?file=steve-benenFCC04F06-AE56-FA32-D705-17C49B46A7C9.jpg&amp;width=380" /></a></div>RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-35830197897634798282012-10-28T03:50:00.000-10:002012-11-01T02:32:06.211-10:00No TsunamiThe all clear was sounded at 1:40am. The folks at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center didn't get the height of the wave right, *fortunately*. Waves were predicted between 2 to 7 feet. Only at Kahului Harbor, Maui, did one wave front reach 2.5-feet. However, the PTWC's projected energy map (below) was spot on based on the readings of the NOAA pacific bouys. This level of accuracy wasn't even on the radar a few years ago. As shown on the map, the looming spectre of a direct hit on the islands heightened the sense of alarm irregardless of the size of the wave a coming. The projected 7-feet wave might not seem extremely destructive but it's packs enough volume of water to flood the land a few hundred yards inshore. In fact, the distance between the ocean and the Ala Wai canal where I'm at is only a few hundred yards wide and I'd been saturated from two fronts as a 7-foot wave traveled upstream on the Ala Wai. As usual, much of the night's traffic congestion was instigated by people filling up gas and buying survival supplies the last minute. Honk if you like, perhaps the proprietors should forgo the windfall profit and voluntarily shut down their stores, at least, for the hour or two immediately following the civil defense siren so the street stay open for more reasonable people just trying to get home. True, the odds of that ever happening is nil.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1ypUSaxYWrQ/UI0ZQr3bC2I/AAAAAAAAGVI/qJWxoOUqmFQ/s1600/12_10_28_Sun_A.png" /></div><br />Even for a sense of relief, I've never found anything humorous about these non-disaster outcomes. A few years ago, there was a new products exhibition, and one booth had a mega screen which played videos of Hawaii's last hurricane. People would get up in front of the mega screen with the hurricane video as a backdrop, and perform impromptu reditions of a tv weather reporter. Meterologists, I guess is the proper term. Aspiring meterologists, so to speak. There was this kid who got up in front of the hurricane screen and was laughing and being funny with his reportage, and a local tv station showed the kid's antics as part of their coverage of the new product exhibition on the 6 o'clock news. To me, that showed a total lack of empathy for the victims of the hurricane. Suffice it to say that the kid didn't know any better. However, the tv station did know better. If you've ever been to a natural disaster zone, the air is thick with the quiet after the storm. The air is also thick with dispair allevieted to some degree by the numbness of the shock over the level of destruction. Many people have lost personal belongings and numerous items possessed irreplaceable sentimental value. Less fortunate victims will never be able to afford to rebuild their property ever. Also, in the interim, there's no hot water to take warm baths. That's if there's even water flowing in the pipes to come outta the water spout. There's no electricity to cook. Or, for that matter, neither for lights at night. So the nights are dark with an eerie quiet. When daylight breaks it's the same scene.RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-66435680578129073532012-10-27T21:47:00.000-10:002012-10-28T00:40:36.393-10:00T-Minus 2 Hours (HST)And boy, am I pissed. The sirens started blaring at 8 PM tonight, however when I checked with the Hawaii Civil Defense website, the latest printout already stated that the 5pm British Columbia earthquake HAD already been upgraded to a WARNING at 7 PM. What may I ask is the reason for an entire hour's delay between the 7pm upgrade to sounding the sirens at 8. Mind you, this is for a 10:28pm tsunami arrival. This past June, Hawaii had been experiencing sporadic siren malfunctions due to an electronic signal somewhere in the mainland inadvertantly setting off sirens in a few local communities because those particular local sirens were using the same software programs as their mainland counterparts and when the mainland people ran tests on the mainland sirens, the same test signals remotely triggered the local sirens all the way in the middle of the Pacific. So, I thought perhaps the previous malfunction issue hadn't been fully resolved. But this isn't so. <br /><br />This is a Saturday night with hordes of local people spending the evening in low lying Waikiki thusly an extra hour is crucial for the non-tourist evacuation. As we speak, there's a huge traffic jam on the Ala Wai Blvd. which has the least number of stoplights. Even when the traffic light turns green, there's no room on the other side of the intersection for the cars to move up. Ridiculous. My bikes are parked in a below sea level parking basement a mere 50-feet across the street from the Ala Wai canal with no higher level parking floors. The canal empties into the ocean downstream about 1&frac12;-miles from where I live along the Ala Wai so should a wave traveling up the Ala Wai overflow the banks across the street from me then water will pour into our below sea level parking basement. It is too late to move my two bikes to higher land with all the traffic, I have to walk back home for the second bike, and that's even without being picky about finding a vacant but safe parking stalls, and splitting lanes high tailing it over to the higher elevation. Most likely the forecasted tsunami will have a subtle impact. We'll see.RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-65539093036531903272012-10-24T23:54:00.001-10:002012-10-29T00:28:05.978-10:00A Chair in the Oval Office<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://static.www.odcdn.com/pictures/us/od/sk/lg/715065_sk_lg.jpg" width="250" /></div>I bought the chair above for my computer desk over a year ago from Office Depot on Ala Moana Blvd. for $180. Assembly required. Since the very day I put it together, it has not appreciated me sitting on it. Yes, It, apparently has a temperment all to it's own. When I get up, the chair swivels, specifically the seat of the chair points to a different direction from whence I left it. It's a swivel chair so it's suppose to swivel. However, it should only swivel while you're seated and and only becuz you turned it to face in another direction. Not swivel on it's own digression. Why? Becuz when you sit back down without looking, you end up sitting on the armrest. Either the left armrest or the right armrest. It feels the same to the back of your tigh. Or, okole (butt) for that matter. It's plain aggravating. I do get up from the chair frequently, for example, just reaching for things that are out of reach. I know better to look before I sit, but I forget due to poor memory. Not funny. <br /><br />Anyways, I finally got tired of it. Over a year of this rigamarole, take it from me, you do get tired of the same routine after thousands of what would you call it, musical chairs solitaire, etc., day in day out, until you're only this much away from tossing it into the Ala Wai canal or mailing it to Clint Eastwood, maybe that. What I did was I turned the chair upside down and there's a retention clip at the very bottom of the column that houses the gas chamber. The column connects the seat part of the chair to the five-legged base. The retention clip, there's a protective washer that backs up the retention clip there to prevent the edges of the retention clip from grinding away the metal component as the chair swivels clockwise or counter clockwise. The secondary purpose of the washer is to provide the necessary friction to keep the chair from swiveling on it's own. Unfortunately, the washer that was used wasn't thick enough to keep things tight enough and in turn provide enough friction. If the factory had used a nut instead of the slip-on retention clip you could just re-tighten the nut a few turns. I did try facing the five-legged base to different clock positions to see if the heavy point of the seat, logically the backrest portion, was not in fact swiveling to the lowest point of the floor since all floors aren't perfectly level, and the five legs of the base may not be perfectly level to each other which might explain in more scientific terms why the seat of the chair swivels on it's own instead of remaining at the incumbent position, albeit you would tunk that if off level-ness was the culprit there would be a specific compass direction that the seat wouldn't swivel at all if it was already pointed in that direction much like a lazy susan on a level table but not so. Back to the washer. I detached the aforementioned retention clip. Then stacked a second backup washer behind the retention clip to provide the required friction. That simple.<br /><br /><span style="color: red;">[edit]</span> I did ask the floor salesman about how to prevent the chair from swiveling on it's own, but he didn't have a clue as usual. That's what I meant by, "That simple."<br /><br />*Found this pic on the Internet today. Note the single backup washer under the retention clip.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.swivel-chair-parts.com/Catalog%20resources/Base%20removal%20photo's/baseRemoval2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.swivel-chair-parts.com/Catalog%20resources/Base%20removal%20photo's/baseRemoval2.gif" /></a></div>RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1861755739015456730.post-62633066447464365452012-10-07T21:50:00.000-10:002012-10-08T04:36:19.931-10:00Stone Lanterns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HcMq-WPxS7A/UHJmg-Ad3jI/AAAAAAAAGLE/62aOsc4HPeA/s1600/12_10_07_Sun_A.png" /></div>I ride pass the Stone Pagodas on Kahala Ave. almost every day. How many pilgrims will find solace there when the stone garden is finished and opened to the public. For some reason it appeared that there had been a few more stone fixtures added to the area. What it was though was they had bulldozed the topography more flat so more pagodas were visible from the street. For years, this property had an 8-foot tall wall fronting the street. What lay behind those very walls? Well, walls are for privacy. So I guess privacy lay behind the 8-foot wall. The lantern above is 7-8 feet tall. And it's chiseled out of stone quarried from some perfecture in Japan, not cast concrete for seven dawrfs. Btw, all the houses on Kahala Ave. have U-shaped driveways. Cars don't reverse blindly into the street that's why I like riding through there.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uQPf48wuWHI/UHJmmB6CwKI/AAAAAAAAGLM/dRKJoDbpR5s/s1600/12_10_07_Sun_B.png" /></div>The tall stone lanterns are stationed on opposite sides of the front gate. There's a hollow grill at the top section, so for all I really know, the lanterns might even be functional to illuminate the path once the wires get plugged in. If they're thinking it which I'm only too sure they are, Hawaii Five-O should film elsewhere. It should be off limits if they 10-4. With a pair of Chinese guardian lions, those animals that flank a Chinese restaurant's front entrance, one lion is yin and the other yang. I never knew which is which, or whether yin has to be always on the left and so forth. One lion has a ball in his mouth or his paw on a ball, etc. The other doesn't. I surmise there's yin &amp; yang to the stone lanterns as well. Friendly reminder .... while you're out shopping, every now and then buy the expensive item. There's no virtue in being prodigal, but if you always, always, buy the cheaper item, virtue has it's limits. You'll feel cheap. I've mentioned my frugality in earlier posts, for example, a roll of paper towels last me 6 months. I haven't even opened the last roll of paper towels that I bought two months ago, but it's the kind that's perforated in such a way that you can tear off half sheets. Save trees.RONWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10685861839372504999noreply@blogger.com6